Wired Magazine Profile of Tim O'Reilly

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Wired Magazine Profile of Tim O'Reilly

Posted by Zonk on Friday September 30, 2005 @12:33PM from the i-wish-i-had-radar dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Best-selling author Steven Levy has a new profile of techincal publisher Tim O'Reilly over at Wired." From the article: "... O'Reilly himself has operated for years under the radar. Most nontechies, if they know him at all, know him by the eponymous name of his publishing company. It has a 15 percent share of the $400 million computer-book market but casts a much bigger shadow. O'Reilly books tend to colonize entire sections at Borders and Barnes & Noble, their distinctive cover design as recognizable as the Tide circle on a box of detergent or the Apple logo on the lid of a PowerBook. In serif type over a glossy white background, there is the title, often naming a computer language or protocol familiar to codeheads and gibberish to everyone else (JavaServer Faces; Essential CVS; Using Samba, 2nd Edition). The illustrations are realistically rendered pen-and-ink drawings of animals."

9 of 116 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

15%? by jcr · 2005-09-30 12:38 · Score: 2, Funny

That figure sounds awfully low. Are they lumping in all the "windoze wanker's guide to nose-picking on the intarweb" books in the same category or something?

-jcr

--
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
My brush with greatness... by barfy · 2005-09-30 12:50 · Score: 2, Funny

Was when I found Tim's business card at the Cafe In bldg 18 at Microsoft. It was like finding RMS *buying* a beer or something...
Re:and Tim has a blog by MichaelSmith · 2005-09-30 13:34 · Score: 2, Funny

radar.oreilly.com
Does he know about things which are about to happen, just before they happen?

--
http://michaelsmith.id.au
animals? Bah! by Bananatree3 · 2005-09-30 13:49 · Score: 4, Funny

"The illustrations are realistically rendered pen-and-ink drawings of animals."
How dare you call this man an animal! Don't you have any respect for fine gentlemen?!
1. Re:animals? Bah! by game+kid · 2005-09-30 14:38 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  He looks gentle...but pair him with a needy wife (or a comparable Windows PC) and he's a rowdy outlaw biker.
  
  His face reminds me of Poe for some reason. I can imagine Poe running Red Hat, though While I wondered, nearly napping, what the hell this GNU GRUB thingy is doesn't seem like good poetry...
  
  --
  You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
O'Really! by snuf23 · 2005-09-30 13:52 · Score: 3, Funny

I generally love O'reilly books and also get quite a kick out of the O'Really parodies. Everything from "Windows NT's Infernal Filesystem" to "Practical UNIX Terrorism". These are great t-shirts if just for the look on a fellow techies face when they read the title.

--
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Good stuff by xgamer04 · 2005-09-30 14:40 · Score: 4, Funny

This was a- good article, but -I keep thinking- some-thing's wrong with it. I just can-'t put my finger on it,- though...

--
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
Wired by Infonaut · 2005-09-30 14:58 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm not as enthusiastic about _Wired_, though.
How can you not be stoked about Wired. After all, they were totally prescient about push media. They predicted that Castanet and Active X would RULE
They're not about hype. They're all about keepin' it real!

--
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Re:I think most nontechies know him as someone els by edremy · 2005-09-30 14:58 · Score: 3, Funny

I have an O'Reilly t-shirt that I wear around here, and I've gotten comments from some of the local folks about being also being a huge fan.
Sadly, they aren't talking about the computer books, unless the 50-year-old guy at the gas station counter is a laid off DEC guy.

--
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"